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N0. 6l7,28l. Patented Jan. 3, I899.

E. W. CRAM, Decd. a. w. cam & A. B. mooma. Exacutors. TURBINE WATERWHEEL.

(Application filed Mar. 25, 1898.) (No Model.)

1m mm INVENTORZ ll'ivirEE STATES PATENT EEicE.

GEORGE W. ORAM, OF LIBERTY, MAINE, AND ADDIE B. MOORE, OE LAW; RENOE,MASSACHUSETTS, EXE UTORs OF ELIJAH w. GRAM, DECEASED.

TURBINE WATER-WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,281, dated January3, 1899.

Application filed March 25, 1898. Serial No. 675,173. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE W. CRAM, residing at Liberty, in the countyof Waldo and State of Maine, and ADDIE B. MOORE, residing at Lawrence,in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, citizens of theUnited States, executors of the last will and testament of ELIJAH W.ORAM, deceased, late a citizen of the United States and a resident atLiberty, Maine, who in his lifetime invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Turbine WVater-lVheelsdo hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

The objects of this invention are to provide a turbine water-wheel whichshall be constructed in such manner as to utilize the high est possiblepercentage of power and at the same time to minimize frictionalresistance and consequent loss of power; furthermore, to present a novelform of bucket the construction of which shall be such as to cause thewater to be discharged in three different directions in one wholeunbroken sheet, and, finally, to assemble the buckets and the headblookor crown-plate in such manner that the buckets at their points ofjunction with the head-block will be rigidly held in place and at theirpoints of assemblage with each other will be held positively againstlateral bulge or strain in use.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the novelconstruction and combination of parts of a water wheel, as will behereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andin which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, thereis illustrated one form of embodiment of the invention, it beingunderstood that other forms of embodiment may be employed withoutdeparting from the spirit of head-block or crown-plate. Fig. 3 is a Viewin plan, partly in section, of the bottom of the wheel,looking upward.Fig.4 is aview in perspective of one of the buckets detached from thewheel; Fig. 5 is a view in perspective, showing the manner in which thebuckets are connected by a lap -joint. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectiontaken on the line 6 6, Fig. 4:. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional viewtaken on the line 7 7, Fig. 4, showing the peculiar shape of the bucket.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the head-block or crown-plate, Bthe buckets, and B the blades of the buckets, the buckets and the bladesbeing by preference castintegral.

The head-block comprises a base CL and a conical hub, as usual, to whichlatter the upper ends of the blades of the buckets are secured, as bybeing riveted thereto or cast integral therewith, as may be preferred.The hub a is made a true bevel instead of a concave for the reason thatthe water instantly begins to lift on the head-block when it takes holdof the buckets,thereby causing the wheel to run easily and bear butlightly upon the step 0. The periphery of the head-block is providedwith a downturned rim a and the base with a boss or extension at,constitut ing a bearing-surface, the walls of the periphcry of thelatter extending parallel with the axis of the shaft D. As will be seenby reference to Fig. 1, the upper end of the blade of each bucket isformed into a compound curve and is provided with laterally-extendinglips b, forming a continuous flange on each side of the blade from edgeto edge, and these lips are adapted to bear against the hub, so as topresent a broad bearing-surface to be impinged by or inclosed with themetal of the head, as in assembling the parts, as before stated, thebuckets and blades may be cast integral with the head-block or beriveted thereto. The upper end of the outer edge of the blade is cutaway to form an an gular point, as at 17 and this point is adapted tofit under the overhanging rim a of the head-block, so that movement ofthe blades from the shaft at these points will be obviated, therebypreventing strain at the points where the buckets are attached to theheadblock, while the periphery of the boss a against which the bladesalso hear, will further assist in holding the blades rigid. It will beseen from this description that the buckets and blades are secured tothe headblock and are held against displacement by strain at threepointsnamely, at the hub, at the points b and at the points a As stated,the upper end of each blade where the lips I) are provided forms acompound curve, and this is caused by the peculiar shape of the blade incross-section, as shown in Fig. 7, so that in order to get a close andfirm union between the hub and the upper end of the blade it will benecessary to form the said end on this peculiar curve. Otherwise thedesired union could not be effected.

The upper outer edge of the bucket is formed into the arc of a circle,and extending the entire length of this are is a lip or flange 6 whichwhen the buckets are assembled With relation to the head-block forms acircumferential flange or seat for a band or collar E for holding thebuckets rigidly in position against lateral spread or displacement, asfrom entrance of debris in the nature of stones or the like into thebuckets. At the rear portion of this flange is a depression 19terminating in a V-shaped recess b and at the forward portion is aprojection b to 'engage the recess 17 of the preceding bucket to form alap-joint.

The shape of the bucket is the result of a great number of experimentsand careful study and may be described generally as combining thefollowing angles and curves: The slight curve of the blade formed at theen trance edge of the bucket from 1 to 2 and arranged approximately atright angles to the shaft, thereby presenting the least resistance tothe entrance of water, the rear sharp outward curve from 2 to 3 formedat the rear 'of the bucket and serving to effect the rapid discharge ofthe Water, thereby obviating any retardation in the operation of thewheel, and the curve of the upper edge of the outer face of the bucketfrom the rear edge of the blade outward to the front edge thereof in thearc of a circle, as shown at 4:, Fig. 4, and disposed so as to give arelatively large entrance-mouth and a relatively large discharge-mouth,thereby also assisting in the rapid discharge of the water. These anglesand curves have all been computed with nicety, and while their exactproportions are not herein stated it has been found that the resultattained is the generation of the highest possible power from a givenforce of water with a minimum resistance to discharge.

By the peculiar arrangement of the lapjoint described in connection withthe buckets these may be assembled in such manner that lateraldisplacement is practically impossible, and by the addition of the bandor collar E,

which may be shrunk or otherwise secured to the flanges, separation ofthe lap-joints is positively obviated.

The buckets constructed in the manner described give four distinctactions to the water, the first being a direct plunge from the chutes,the second a direct pressure at an angle leading toward the center, thethird a gravity-pressure, which is greatly augmented by the waterrushing under the beveled face of the head-block and crowding down onthe vertical sections of the buckets, and the fourth a pressure on thecurved surface in the outer wing of the bucket tangential to the centerof the wheel, which latter action is greatly increased by centrifugalforce when the wheel is in motion. These combined actions of the waterenable the wheel to discharge the water in three diiferent directions inone whole unbroken sheet.

In assembling the wheel the blades are first placed in proper positionwith relation to each other in a mold, and the head-block is then castthereon, causing the lips I), and with them the buckets or blades, tobecome an integral part of the head-block. It is to be understood,however, that the invention is not to be limited to this particularmanner of assembling the blades with the head-block, as these lips maybe made of sufficient width to admit of their being riveted or otherwisese= cured to the head-block.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, anddesired to be se-' cured by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A turbine water -wheel comprising a head-block and a plurality ofbuckets, each bucket being provided with an upward-extending flange, therear portion of the flange being provided with a recess, and the front.

portion with a projection, substantially as described.

2. A turbine water wheel comprising a head-block and a plurality ofbuckets rigidly connected therewith, each bucket being pro- Vided withan upward-extending flange, the rear portion of the flange having arecess, and the front portion a projection adapted to engage a similarrecess in the next succeeding bucket, to constitute a lap-joint, and aband or collar inclosin'g the flanges of the continuous series oflap-joints, substantially as described.

3. In a water-wheel, a head-block having a conical hub terminating atits lower portion in a boss having straight walls, and the upper edge ofthe head-block being formed into an overhanging rim, in combination withbuckets having their blade portions secured against the hub and engagingthe said boss and rim, the outer wing of the buckets being drawn in atthe top to form arcs of circles arranged tangential to the circumferenceof the head-block, the said buckets being each provided with anupward-extending flange, the

rear portion of which is provided with a recess, and the front portionwith a projection extending beyond the bucket and adapted to engage arecess in the flange of the next succeeding bucket, to constitute alap-joint, and a band or collar inclosing the flanges of the continuousseries of lap-joints, substantially as described.

4:. As a new article of manufacture, a bucket for turbine Water-Wheels,comprising a blade and a bucket, the bucket being provided With anupward-extending flange, the rear portion of which is provided with arecess, and the front portion with a projection, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof We afiix our signa tures in presence of twoWitnesses.

GEORGE W. ORAM, ADDIE B. MOORE, Ewecutorsof the estate of Elijah T V.0mm;

deceased;

